Following the release of details of the healthcare minibus spending package earlier this week, it is important to understand how this package will impact healthcare. Did you know almost 20% of the people in the U.S. receive their health insurance coverage through the federal Medicare program?  

It is no surprise that some physicians and professional organizations disagree with these payment cuts, but this disagreement is largely because physicians are not required to take Medicare patients and can opt out of the Medicare program at any time. If Medicare physician reimbursement rates continue to decrease annually, and physicians opt out of the program, Medicare patients will experience difficulties accessing care as their provider net shrinks.  

While current legislation is being created to mitigate these payment reductions, there is no long-term solution. Congress has enacted four temporary, one-year increases to physician payment rates to avoid these payment cuts since 2020.  

The healthcare spending package, expected to be finalized this week, details an approximate 2.00% reduction for the entire calendar year for physicians, rather than a 3.4% reduction. Although this is not a complete reversal, it is a starting place for future discussions addressing Medicare’s lack of inflationary updates. Long-term solutions are needed to avoid temporary fixes. 

The graphic below provides historical data on legislation and federal programs that relate to physician payment.